


Tony Versus the HVAC

by Neverever



Series: 2016 Cap-IM Tiny Reverse Bang ficlets [12]
Category: Avengers Assemble (Cartoon)
Genre: Dating, M/M, Secret Relationship, Technology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2017-04-02
Packaged: 2018-10-14 01:36:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10526160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neverever/pseuds/Neverever
Summary: Tony has to fix the broken air-conditioning in Avengers Tower and wonders when he and Steve should tell the team that they are dating.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: pure fluff
> 
> Written for the tenth round of the 2016 Cap/Iron Man Tiny Reverse Big Bang. 
> 
> Art is by fantalaimon and is titled: [caught you!](http://68.media.tumblr.com/d30de4921246dfb70b9c077b6ca94fa3/tumblr_inline_o8znh7ZXWt1qmb808_500.png)

The last days of summer were here and Tony was watching Clint flick paper pellets at the window while Cap droned on about some SHIELD operation.

Ordinarily, Tony loved Steve’s voice and would listen to Steve read phone numbers from the internet any day of the week. Except today. Tony was nursing a grudge about AIM ruining his summer. He really had better things to do than be stuck in the hot, humid city fighting off beekeepers.

Somehow he ended up dating Steve along the way. So maybe the summer wasn’t a complete loss.

“Anyone else hot?” Bruce asked.

Is anyone else hot? Tony’s mind drifted from Steve’s briefing. The Avengers were truly a team full of hot people. Even Clint, who admittedly had the whole gun show thing going on. Though Steve was a cut above. Especially after one of the long workouts where Steve punished the gym equipment for merely existing, his hair mussed up just right as his thoroughly wet shirt clung to every muscle, his sweatpants held on to his hips for dear life and the sweat on his skin glistened under the lights. Delicious.

Especially since they had been a couple for a month. They just hadn’t told the team yet.

“Yeah, I am,” Sam replied.

Sam was not hot by any stretch of the imagination. He was the team’s baby brother, and Tony’s mind refused to consider a world in which baby Sam was hot. Well, maybe he was hot to other 18-year olds. Tony immediately felt as old as the pyramids. He brushed his hair back and felt a trickle of sweat slide down his temple. He glanced up at Steve, who looked as fresh as a daisy.

Mmmmm. Steve.

If he’d had his way, the team would be spending their time at the beach. And hopefully Steve might even wear a speedo as he used Beach Day for survival swimming, since Steve seemed allergic to anything remotely relaxing. Tony didn’t care as long as Steve wore a tiny swimsuit.

Tony felt uncomfortably hot as he imagined Steve asking him to spread sunblock over his back.

“Me too,” Natasha chimed in. “What’s the temperature in here?”

Temperature is one super-hot Steve. Maybe he could convince Steve to use the Tower pool for training. Lots of training. Daily.

“Tony -- I think something’s wrong with the HVAC system,” Clint said, rudely interrupting Tony’s thoughts about Steve in a red, white and blue speedo, stretched out on a beach towel, one perfect bead of sweat trailing down his chest.

“Friday?” Tony asked.

“The chiller for the Avengers floors is not working, sir.”

Bruce sighed. “So I wasn’t imagining it. When will it be fixed?”

Tony shrugged. “No problem. I’ll get people in and we’ll be back to cool air in no time.”

One day later and the promised people were nowhere to be seen. Natasha, her hair pinned up and down to a tank top and shorts, was curled up with a book sitting near a large floor fan in the living room. She asked Tony about the HVAC. “So when is it going to be fixed?”

Tony had been informed by his facilities crew that the guys on the payroll who could fix the chiller were out on vacation or on sick leave. So Tony was reduced to hiring outside help. Pepper and he had spent the past five hours tracking down technicians who were 1) top-tier accredited, bonded and insured; 2) capable of finishing the job quickly; 3) cleared to sign nondisclosure agreements since the HVAC system was located (stupidly) near sensitive Stark Industries R&D floors; and 4) willing to work over the weekend. And when they found a company, the company had an issue working for the Avengers, like concerns about alien invasions or AIs taking over the Tower.

Like that happened every day.

Tony was finding that money did not buy everything. It was offensively annoying actually.

“When it gets fixed,” Tony said, with a shrug. He grabbed some water from the kitchen and sat down on the couch across from Natasha.

She arched an eyebrow. “That’s helpful.”

“Pepper has ideas,” Tony said. “I’m sure someone will be working on it tomorrow.” Any minute now and he’d have to strip down to a tank top.

“Between me, you and Bruce, we could fix it ourselves,” announced Sam.

Tony ran a hand over his hot face. “I prefer to hire certified HVAC technicians who do this every day over superheroes, even superhero scientists. Just because you’re angling to get on the university steel bridge competition team doesn’t mean I want you anywhere near my A/C system.”

Sam asked Natasha, “More fans?”

“It’s Clint’s. He’s letting me use it while he’s out of the tower.”

“Friday, order more fans.”

“Yes, sir.”

Steve sauntered in like he wasn’t bothered at all by the heat. They all looked at him with envy, eyes narrowed at his carefree, sweat-free appearance. Every now and then they were reminded that Steve was a super soldier. And clearly not bothered by the heat. Well, not bothered enough to wear a tank top and short shorts. Which was a crying shame, Tony thought.

He really should whisk Steve away for a long weekend. They could turn off the phones and comms. The rest of the team could handle anything anyway. They would stay in bed all day, unless Steve wanted to go skinny dipping. Tony approved of that.

“Want to go out to dinner?” Tony blurted out.

“Great idea,” Sam said. “I vote anywhere but here.”

“Hmmm,” Natasha said, putting her book down. “I could go for a real meal with a good dessert.”

Tony frowned as the Avengers piled on for a group outing instead of the nice, quiet, intimate evening he had envisioned with Steve. Maybe they should hurry up and tell the team they were dating. So that they could go on dates. As a couple. Without the rest of the team.

“Thor is training -- I could get him,” Sam offered.

Tony sighed. So much for getting Steve to himself for all evening. He couldn’t look Steve in the eye, in case he betrayed too much disappointment.

~~~~~

The fact was that if Tony wanted to go back to his romantic secret dates with Steve, he was going to have to fix the HVAC.

Two days into Heat Crisis 2016 and Pepper had lined up two different companies (finally!) to give estimates on the chiller. Only to find out that Tony had approved the installation of a super high-tech, cutting-edge HVAC system when the tower was built. And the only technicians who could fix it and had access to parts were in California, working on another system. They would be available on Wednesday.

It was Friday. The forecast was sun, heat and humidity for the weekend. Everyone was cranky and unhappy. Even Thor.

At first Tony thought that Natasha and Clint would head for SHIELD, Sam for a visit to his mom, Thor to Asgard, and Bruce to an air-conditioned lab or Hulk to the Antarctic. But the team proved willing to tough it out until the system was fixed. And they sure liked hanging around Steve and Tony when they went out to dinner or lunch or breakfast or to get coffee. Any excuse to get out of the Tower.

So, no personal one-on-one time with Steve for days. Steve kindly tried to dissuade their teammates from joining them. Never worked.

“You could be firmer in saying no,” Tony hissed at Steve while Clint went to get popcorn.

Tony’s plans that day didn’t involve watching a documentary in the local movie theatre. But no one could agree on what movie to watch and a film on animals was a film that they all could settle on. At least it was air-conditioned and he could sit next to Steve.

“I tried,” Steve apologized.

“Yeah, well, you need to be stronger against Sam’s puppy-dog eyes and Natasha just inviting herself along.”

“I didn’t hear you say no to Clint.”

“He always comes with Natasha -- I’m not breaking up a set.”

Clint returned with a huge bucket of popcorn. “Hey, Steve, could you move? I can’t see anything with you in the way.”

Steve started to protest but he finally moved when Clint patted him on the shoulder. “Thanks, old man.”

Tony looked mournfully at the empty seat next to him and Steve an ocean’s distance away two seats over. Let’s see if Clint’s happy with never getting Stark Industries arrows ever again.

Steve crossed his arms and stonily stared at the screen. Not looking at all like a happy guy. Then of course the team wanted to go to dinner afterwards at a restaurant that had supposedly an endless list of craft beer so no one was going home anytime soon. Which was the point.

Tony fiddled with the fries on his plate and glanced at Steve. Thor was telling a long, involved story about a journey in Asgard and Tony had gotten lost at the point when Thor described in great detail a chariot or cart or something. But Steve, raised to be Mrs. Rogers’ polite son, listened attentively and every now and then moved his beer away from Thor’s sweeping arms. But Tony caught the rare wistful look on Steve’s face as he glanced in Tony’s direction. That was a bit reassuring.

On the way home, Tony said, “When Team Bonding Weekend is over --”

Steve grinned. “Does that include me?”

“Oh, I have plans for you, Steve Rogers.”

“I have some ideas too.” Steve bent over to whisper something to Tony.

Sam poked Steve. “Hey, Thor and Natasha want to go to a bowling alley.”

Catching Tony’s eye, Steve nodded imperceptibly. “You guys go ahead. Tony and I --”

“Captain, surely you aren’t going to refuse Clint’s bet about how many strikes he will make?” Thor interrupted.

“I’m going to bury you all,” Clint declared. “Bury you and if I win then I’m off laundry duty for a month.”

Tony groaned as he caught that competitive glint in Steve’s eye. Then he steeled himself for a night of bowling.

~~~~~

All Tony really wanted was some private time with his boyfriend. Really, that’s all he wanted. And if that meant Tony had to break open the chiller armed with a toolbox and an outdated, smudged operation manual with his backup band of scientists Sam and Bruce, then that’s what he would do.

Tony flipped a wrench back and forth in his hands. Sam read the manual like it held all the secrets of the universe and Bruce walked back and forth studying the chiller. Steve and Natasha watched from the sidelines.

How hard could it be? The chiller was just another machine, only the size of a large garden shed, and Tony at heart loved to work with machines of all types.

“Let’s get this done,” he said.

A half hour later of running diagnostics and poking around the chiller, they weren’t any closer to fixing it. “I think we need a new part,” Bruce announced.

“I could machine one,” Tony said, stroking his chin. “Can’t be more difficult than the armor.”

He scrambled up to stand on top of the chiller. “Friday, scan this part.”

“Which one, sir?”

“That one --” Tony leaned over the open cover and aimed a flashlight into the depths of the chiller. He stepped back to get a better angle.

The warning flashed through his mind that his foot was slipping when he felt his foot skid off the smooth metal curve of the chiller casing. The next thought was that it was going to hurt bad -- real bad -- when he hit the concrete floor of the mechanical room. He steeled himself for the pain.

Except he fell against Steve’s hard chest and biceps.

“Hey, I’ve got you,” Steve said gently. He kissed Tony’s forehead and gave him squeeze before letting him down. “Okay?”

Tony pulled down his t-shirt. “Thanks, Steve. That would have been bad.”

Steve smiled back at him fondly. “Couldn’t let the resident mechanic get damaged.”

“Okay -- back it up -- what’s going on here?” Sam asked looking quizzically at the others in the room.

“Oh, that’s just Steve and Tony,” Natasha shrugged.

“Right,” Bruce said. “That’s not an explanation.”

Tony gave a critical look at the chiller. “Okay, that’s it. I’m going to do what I should have done before. I’m calling an Avengers vacation. Take a long weekend or week, whatever you want.”

“What?” Sam asked, looking even more confused.

“Vacation?” Steve asked.

“Yes. I’m paying for airplane tickets or rental cars, hotel bills and whatever you want to get away for a few days until the HVAC is fixed. I should have done this first day.” He turned to Steve. “And you and I -- we’re going to the beach.”

Steve replied. “I could do that.”

Tony grabbed Steve’s hand to pull him towards the door. “Everyone -- Friday will handle your requests. And yes, Sam, Steve and I are dating.”

“That’s explains a lot,” Sam snarked. “When did this start?”

“Stories after vacation. I’ve got plans with my boyfriend and I don’t want to spend a minute longer in this hotter-than-hell place.”

“So we’re going to the beach?” Steve said, smile now plastered permanently on his face.

Tony finally had what he wanted -- Steve to himself, beach, no work. Tony needed one more thing to be completely happy.

He whispered to Steve, “Don’t bring a swimsuit.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

badge by runningondreams


End file.
